Hearing set on cleanup of tainted site

May 24, 1993

A long-awaited public meeting on plans to remove nuclear contamination from county-owned property on New Ordnance Road that once was part of an Army depot is scheduled for 7:30 tonight at the auditorium of North County High School in Linthicum.

Radioactive thorium nitrate was discovered on the property during a May 1992 inspection. At the time, the 85-acre property was being considered as the site for a new county detention center.

Thorium nitrate is an especially potent radioactive substance, and scientists have said that the levels found at the depot are high enough to pose health risks to a person who merely stands near it.

Two federal agencies, the Defense Logistics Agency and the General Services Administration, have been arguing over who is responsible for the cleanup. DLA decided to coordinate the cleanup and determine later which agency would pick up the tab.